North Carolina businesses are generous donors of time and money to worthy causes across our state and beyond. Major corporations such as Truist, Duke Energy, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Bank of America give tens of millions of dollars a year to charities through their respective foundations. Many other companies, large and small, aid nonprofits...
The Covid-19 pandemic may be the biggest story of our lifetimes, impacting us for decades. In a new book titled “Economics in One Virus,” author Ryan Bourne shows how the circumstances, debates, and policies related to dealing with the pandemic and its accompanying recession can be used as a “teachable moment” to highlight important economic...
North Carolina’s installed solar power is second only to California’s. Some may cringe at the thought of following California’s energy policy, given the rolling blackouts imposed there. Solar power seemed like an attractive option in 2007, when the Democrat-controlled legislature handed Democratic Gov. Mike Easley a bill that provided sweeping incentives to encourage solar power...
A few other states have experimented with similar reforms, but North Carolina has been a pioneer in marrying the ongoing review of its administrative code with annual regulatory-reform bills.
The problem is that planners so often venture underneath the hood of the local economic engine to tinker with its moving parts using tools entirely unsuited to the task.
The fact that past immunization programs have been enormously beneficial to society doesn't mean that every vaccination program is part of a sound policy. The public health policy toward immunizations in general should be separated from the recent controversy over administering the Gardisill vaccine to nine-year-olds. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that mandatory human papillomavirus vaccination 'has undermined public confidence and created a backlash among parents.'
There appears to be growing concern about pollution and the environment. Pollution is not a new issue. Widespread public attention began at least as early as the 1970s. But with the growth of greenhouse gases and the debate over global warming, analyzing pollutants has achieved a new prominence today.
It is a social cost, not a social gain, when marginally qualified students attend and later drop out of state-subsidized colleges.
Here’s another basic rule for interpreting political debate: if those who benefit from a given action don’t shoulder a substantial share of cost of that action, but receive its benefits, it will happen much more than it should.
Ignoring the law of scarcity can lead to costly unintended consequences.
Consumers and environmentalists might wish for substitutes, but the United States will depend on oil for some time.
